This study compared four methods for setting item response time thresholds to differentiate rapid-guessing behavior from solution behavior. Thresholds were either (a) common for all test items, (b) based on item surface features such as the amount of reading required, (c) based on visually inspecting response time frequency distributions, or (d)…

The author replies to Jensen and Vernon's article and maintains that there is little reason for accepting Jensen's claims, particularly with respect to the major theoretical question. (Author/LMO)

This study was designed to determine the accuracy with which a student in a computer-based testing situation will be able to accurately communicate the selected answer to the computer. Such a test was administered to 34 students, with the answer to each item supplied. Examinees, who were identified as touch typists or non-typists, used either the…

Van Breukelen (this issue) provides an approach to using both response time (RT) and accuracy for (1) measuring latent abilities of participants even when they may trade speed for accuracy, and for (2) providing insight into the psychological processes underlying task performance. In this commentary, I focus on the second of these aims and assess…

Sixty children were individually administered the Matching Familiar Figures Test and the Bender Gestalt Test. A significant relationship was found between errors on the Bender Gestalt Test and impulsivity. Specifically, increased or decreased loops, change in angulation, loops for circles, and circles for dots or dots for circles were all…

The results of this test indicate that at certain levels of stimulus intensity a sensory set is more efficient; at other levels of stimulus intensity, a motor set is more efficient. (JD)

The purpose of this study was to determine how cognitive style instructions to respondents of a survey instrument affected the resulting psychometric properties of the scale. It was hypothesized that a group which is instructed to carefully respond will have a mean score further from the neutral point, a larger standard deviation, and a higher…

When low-stakes assessments are administered to examinees, the degree to which examinees give their best effort is often unclear, complicating the validity and interpretation of the resulting test scores. This study introduces a new method for measuring examinee test-taking effort on computer-based test items based on item response time. This…

Study to determine whether potential bias exists in the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) which fee-free center candidates do not complete in the time available in as large a proportion as regular center candidates. (MB)

Examined whether children (ages 4-5) were, like adults, capable of using precued information to preselect a response and remember it briefly. Findings suggest that the 10 preschoolers could preselect a response and maintain it for about one second, but they had difficulty over a 3- or 5-second delay. (Author/SJL)

In these choice response keyboard tasks, older subjects detected and corrected their errors as efficiently as the young. Reaction time (RT) for error and error correction responses remained relatively constant with increasing age while RTs for correct responses and other, arbitrary, error-signaling responses markedly increased. (Author/SJL)

The relationship between latency to respond and performance on the ITPA Visual Association subtest was investigated for 50 preschoolers. Performance was a function of age and response latency. It was concluded that for children who don't have the appropriate search strategy, the visual association subtest doesn't give a valid assessment.…

Human performance in cognitive testing and experimental psychology is expressed in terms of response speed and accuracy. Data analysis is often limited to either speed or accuracy, and/or to crude summary measures like mean response time (RT) or the percentage correct responses. This paper proposes the use of mixed regression for the psychometric…

This paper examines Longstreth's criticisms of Jensen's studies relating reaction-time to measures of intelligence and finds them unconvincing. While Longstreth raises some interesting questions, the authors found no evidence in the data for practice or order effects in a reaction-time paradigm. (BS)

Four points are made in regard to the controversial reaction times studies: (1) apparatus used is not the best; (2) practice effects have not been thoroughly accounted for; (3) there is some evidence that simple reactions are different from choice ones; and (4) basic data to be explained are those which show substantial group differences.…